AI usage detection software

[robslack]

I have been asked by SLT to find find some AI usage detection software.  I have looked at the JCQ Website and it mentions the following

 

• Copyleaks (https://copyleaks.com/ai-content-detector)
• GPTZero (https://gptzero.me/)
• Sapling (https://sapling.ai/ai-content-detector)
• Turnitin AI writing detection (https://www.turnitin.com/solutions/topics/aiwriting/ai-detector/)

 

As anyone used any of these and got any ideas on pricing (We are a Secondary with Sixth Form with 1100 students) or does anyone have any other suggestions?

[Primus]

There is nothing reliable available.

[machy]

they are all awful.

 

Take the Principals/Heads letter from your website and put in in one of the free ones, see what it says about it

[MaxCarter]

Hi there - Max from Turnitin here - We agree that no AI writing tool is 100% and would not advocate using it as the sole piece of evidence to talk action against a student! Thanks for mentioning us on here @robslack

[robslack]

33 minutes ago, machy said:

they are all awful.

 

Take the Principals/Heads letter from your website and put in in one of the free ones, see what it says about it

Which ones have you used?  We would be using this in holistic way is conjunction with Teacher opinion as way to verify any concerns

[machy]

51 minutes ago, robslack said:

Which ones have you used?  We would be using this in holistic way is conjunction with Teacher opinion as way to verify any concerns

Its the technology itself, rather than the specific products.

Its simply not capable of doing it to a high enough degree of accuracy 

 

It just doesn't work well enough to potentially end with a student getting reported to the exam boards for gross misconduct. 

 

The old-school plagiarism detectors had the same issue  

[Primus]

1 hour ago, robslack said:

Which ones have you used?  We would be using this in holistic way is conjunction with Teacher opinion as way to verify any concerns

It doesn't work, you won't have success doing this.

[Pottsey]

None of them have enough accuracy. You can put famous works into them and they can came back as AI written even though the work predate AI by many years. Some of them think the US Constitution is AI written. If you use them them student that have not used AI will be falsely trigger as AI written. With 1100 students you will be looking at 100's of false positives per run. 

Edited July 3, 2025 by Pottsey

[pete]

We've used GPTZero, ZeroGPT, Grammarly (yup, I know - used as a third opinion) for sections of student work where a teacher has walked in and said "I'm fairly certain Bob didn't write much of this essay because it's way too articulate and demonstrates an understanding of the concepts beyond anything he's previously show in written or classwork".

 

Even then we haven't seen a better than ~60% "might be AI-written" result unless the student made the laziest "write me an essay on penguins" and then copy-pasted the output into Word.

[NegativeKillDeath]

9 minutes ago, pete said:

"I'm fairly certain Bob didn't write much of this essay because it's way too articulate and demonstrates an understanding of the concepts beyond anything he's previously show in written or classwork".

 

This is already way more than any AI sniffer might have come up with. Rather then trying to follow up with "proof" that it was AI generated the teacher should be talking to the student, get them to talk through what they submitted and when they can't back up their submitted work in conversation it hopefully becomes a teachable moment of the pitfalls of relying on AI.

 

 

[MaxCarter]

I think one of the challenges that schools / teachers face (from what I hear) is that there are often instances when external bodies use or cite AI reports during their moderation process and either penalize schools or the student themselves with malpractice. Often school officials get AI writing reports sent to them and this puts them in a difficult position - The issue seems especially acute at present within the context of the newly mandated AI writing policies and associated and updated student declaration forms. 

[msi_school]

This is the reason for a viva voce or thesis defense at university it is the only way to be sure that the student understands their work. Even if they wrote teh piece it does not mean they understand it.

 

Lazy teaching staff will look for a short cut in the same way lazy students do.

 

 

[pete]

There's also the endless parental drama to consider.  The kids who cheat have a higher-than-average chance of having parents who (even faced with paragraph-by-paragraph comparison between the robot-written essay and the student essay) insist their child wouldn't do this and the teacher is obviously engaging in a vendetta against Tarquin*.

 

*and the teachers aren't allowed to give the snarky "why would I engineer any situation that increases the likelihood of having to listen to you or your child whining at me?" response.

[mavhc]

AI written vs Parent written vs Paid someone else to write it, all the same, ask the student to explain what "they" wrote

[Frodo_Baggins]

5 minutes ago, mavhc said:

AI written vs Parent written vs Paid someone else to write it, all the same, ask the student to explain what "they" wrote

 

Can't agree with this more, It's what our teachers and SLT\MLT do and the students quickly admit usage

[pete]

Had one today.  Reads like a drunk robot who keeps trailing off-topic and then repeats the same phrase again.

 

Investigation reveals the kid is just truly awful at writing and rephrasing themes and ideas in a way that engages the reader. 

[Steve101]

Data protection nightmare.